2014 discharge: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the year 2014, together with the Centre’s reply.

CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an independent external audit.

This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual accounts of the ECDC.

Statement of assurance: pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has audited:

• the annual accounts of the Centre, which comprise the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2014, and
• the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.

Opinion on the reliability of the accounts: in the Court’s opinion, the Centre’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2014 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer.

Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts: in the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2014 are legal and regular in all material respects.

The report also makes a series of observations on the budgetary and financial management of the Centre, accompanied by the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised as follows:

The Court’s observations:

• budgetary management: the Court noted that carry-overs of committed appropriations were relatively high with EU 8.1 million (i.e. 49 % for operational expenditure).

Centre’s replies: the Centre welcomed the Court of Auditor’s comment about the high budget execution rate and that they also identified the fact that the high carry-overs are justified for operational needs.

Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Centre’s activities in 2014. This is focused on the following:

Budget: EUR 60.4 million.

Activities:

• 44 health threats identified and monitored using the Threat Tracking Tool (TTT) and weekly threat reports on communicable diseases;
• provision of support to epidemic intelligence for 2 large mass-gathering events;
• preparation of 3 risk assessments, 26 new rapid risk assessments and 13 rapid risk assessment updates;
• one simulation exercise conducted for testing and improving preparedness and response to communicable diseases;
• 115 fellows coached in the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET) and the European Programme for Public Health Microbiology Training (EUPHEM);
• various types of international cooperation;
• organisation of the Seventh European Antibiotic Awareness Day;
• publication of the Surveillance Atlas of Infectious Diseases, a web-based tool that makes EU-level surveillance data available in an interactive format;
• other surveillance reports published, including tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and anti-microbioresistance annual reports;
• contribution to support the EU and international response to Ebola.